The Trollhunters
"Come on Tobes! We need to finish up our morning run-through before it gets too late.", Jim remarked to Toby as he was catching up.
"Hey! It's not my fault I can't keep up with your long troll legs! After five years of battling, and training I'm thankful that I at least grew 7 more inches and lost my baby weight. But it's not fair that you gained another foot and a half!", he shouted as he caught up with the Trollhunter.
"Also I will say you look pretty badass carrying Eclipse and Excalibur on your back. And ever since you grew that beard...it's so hard trying to keep up with your coolness bro!", Toby exclaimed while rubbing his baby smooth face in enviness.
"Tobes, it probably grew cause of the magical troll DNA. Like I've never seen my mom's side to have any facial hair, then again I don't know what my father's side looks like."
Toby thought about something, "Here's the thing, I've never seen a troll with a beard...let alone a hairy one.
"Oh, well there's probably some out there with fur.", Jim shrugged as he tried to look back in his thoughts.
"Either way, don't get upset with me just because I have facial hair!", he chuckled at his best friend.
Toby rolled his eyes, but before he could say anything else a deep howl was carried through the cold winds. Stopping them in their tracks, raising Jims' fur on his back a little from the sudden change in mood. Their eyes caught the sight of a large lone black wolf walk through the bushes, climbing up the ridge and looking away from them.
"Looks like a lone wolf, seems distracted by something on the other side.", Jim said as he exhaled.
"What do you think that could be? A deer? Stalkling?", Toby said as he began to get curious.
"Hmm...by the looks of his body language...I'd say another predator. I don't think it's a Stalking Tobes, after the battle they avoid this area now."
"Something else was carried by the wind...but what?", Jim thought.
"Another predator? Like a mountain lion?"
"Nah, I don't sense anything feline...actually, I don't know what I'm sensing."
The wolf turned towards their direction. Its pale amber eyes pierced into Jim's, as if the creature was trying to tell them something. An acknowledgement between the two powerful beasts was signified by a deep chuff. Jim couldn't fully tell what the wolf was trying to say, but he knew he had to stay on his toes. The wolf stayed a little longer as it kept its eyes on the other side for a bit till it vanished. Melting into the blackness of the forest.
Toby disrupted the silence, "I get that you are like the top dog in the animal kingdom but the fact that you can talk to animals is still crazy."
Jim rolled his eyes, "I can't talk to animals Tobes, just only understand body language better than most."
"Okay, Mr. Dolittle. Besides what was all of that?", Toby asked gesturing in the direction of where the wolf was.
Jim sighed, "I'm not completely sure, let's just stay on our toes for a bit. I don't sense any hostility...but there's something in the air."
"A sense of...change?", Toby asked with a smile.
Jim chuckled, "I sure hope so."
As they continued to walk memories of a long forgotten past interrupted his thoughts, and a sense of heavy disorientation began to seep into his senses. Jim grabbed his head as a headache began to settle in. Visions of flashing colors and lights blinded him as a voice filled with remorse roared into his ears.
"No! This wasn't suppose to happen! They lied to me!"
Hey, Jimbo, you alr-", his sentence faltered as he could tell that Jim wasn't all there.
Jim's eyes were involuntary moving rapidly from side to side, his pupils dialating quickly. His hands began to clam up, his breath uneven with anxiety. Ever since that day Jim has had moments just like this or worse, he knew Jim changed because of it. Looking blankly into the nothingness Jim suddenly broke the silence that felt like an eternity.
"Roashara.", Jim whispered under his breath.
Realizing that he needed to change the subject quickly for the atmosphere to lighten up a bit, he started to dig into his backpack for something.
"Oh, here I brought a Diablo Supreme Breakfast Burrito. You can have it all or half it'll make you feel better.", Toby said as he pulled out the burrito from his backpack.
Jim blinked at him then came back to reality, "Thanks Tobes, but you know how that would react with my troll stomach."
"Oh yeah, I forgot about that.". Toby chuckled nervously as he put the burrito back in his bag, but it slipped and was about to fall to the ground. Thankfully Jim caught it with his strong long, prehensile tail.
"Thanks Jimbo...you know something has been bugging for a while."
"And what's that?"
"I don't remember you having a tail when you first became a troll.", Toby said as he looked at Jim's tail whipping around.
"Ah, ya know I don't remember that either...", Jim said trying to remember.
Toby enthusiastically moved upwards towards Jim trying to change the subject, "Oh! This is our first year in college! It's so cool that we're able to stay in Arcadia after you came back from finding a new heart stone, battling the Arcane Order, and finishing summer school twice! I thought Senor Uhl was going to turn you into stone!"
"And disappearing for like 5 freaking years.", Toby thought to himself.
Jim softly chuckled as he went to check down an alleyway, "Ha-ha, yeah. I thought he was going to go easy on me after everything but was I wrong! Man, all of that was just in one year. Then after that year...the whole arcane order mess...sorry Tobes for vanishing after that."
Toby stiffened a bit.
"It's alright buddy, I totally get it. Having time for yourself is important and I'm pretty glad you can still even get to go to college, with you being trollish and all.", Toby said as he poked Jim's armored arm.
Jim could sense he was hiding something, but he brushed it off for the moment.
"Yeah, the Mayor of Arcadia appreciated us for what we did. So, letting me have a free ride into college to polish up my studies seemed to be a fair trade as well as making it comfortable for my new features.", Jim sighed with relief as he stretched out his four-fingered hand towards the full moon.
"Yeah, and it opened up whole new opportunities for young magical creatures. Ever since Douxie went and casted that huge spell over the town to protect them from humans that would certainly not be acceptable towards them. So, no human can waltz right through and do any harm.", Toby said with confidence.
Then he looked over to his right and noticed a huge bear like figure walking by.
"Uhhh, Jim...what is that?!.", he whispered harshly to Jim as he pointed at the being. Jim looked over and sniffed the air, his nose crinkled at the sudden unusual yet familar smell. His body stiffened and his hackles raised as the figure had a terrifying bear head, but then he relaxed when the figure pulled it down to reveal a woman, a very filthy tired looking woman.
"It's just a girl, blaring music through her headphones. She smells...not bad...but...", he said while his nose still crinkled.
"Great Deya! She looks like she just came right from Quagawumps Swamp! She looks terrifying with that look!", Toby exclaimed with his eyebrow raised.
"Wait...how did she get through the magical barrier?"
Jim's thoughts were coming together as he remembered Douxie mentioning of a new comer in town.
"Yeah...Oh! Douxie told me about a new arrival in the town. But I expected a young troll or something. Not a human girl...her something seems off though.", Jim said with curiosity as he followed her in the shadows.
"Hey! Wait! Let me know that you're going to follow some beast girl before you start walking away!", Toby shouted after Jim.
"Your memory isn't as sharp as it use to be...I gotta talk to his mom about this. It's gotten worse.", Toby thought to himself as he quickly followed him.
"Seems to be pretty normal to me, if you call wearing all black with a bear cloak like some DnD rouge normal. Why would someone like this be coming to our small town?", Jim whispered.
Jim caught a glimpse of her face, her greyish blue eyes glinting in the moonlight. He noticed left eye was covered in a huge scar, making it look foggy. Looking past the dirt covering her skin and caking her hair. Her aquiline nose made her look modelesque, but she also looked possibly malnourished with her baggy jacket. Despite that her skinny black jeans sculpted her pretty well, he couldn't keep his eyes off of her. Just something about her that snagged his interest, and suddenly she started to dance. A smirk crept on her face as the music she was listening to got louder. Her voice sounded exotic as she sung in a different language.
Jim was suddenly captivated.
"What language is that!?", Toby asked.
"I, uh...not sure.", Jim said as he was still entranced.
Toby nudged his ribs.
"Ah, what!?"
Toby rolled his eyes.
The Trollhunter cleared his throat, "Let's follow her to see what she's up to. But make sure she doesn't notice us, I would feel bad if we embarrassed her while she's dancing."
"Or attack us?"
"I don't think she will.", Jim said as he left after her.
"Wait!", Toby shouted as Jim took off following her as he went to catch up with him.
Ashka was suddenly feeling herself as she swung her hips around singing in Icelandic.
The girl's hands moved fluidly like water, not thinking about anything and not realizing that two men were watching her. Toby was confused what she was doing but Jim was subconsciously still watching, forgetting why they were following her. He was in awe of her vocal range as well as her confident movements, suddenly she stopped moving causing them to hold their breath. She suddenly took a deep breath, seeing the condensation escape her mouth. Then she began to sing a different song in english, her voice suddenly sounding like a blazing fire as her movements became strong and thunderous. Jim suddenly felt a spark inside of him as her voice reached within him.
"To the savage daughters
Who's hearts still burn
My body is my temple
My hurt is my hurt
To the savage daughters
Who dare to dream
With the power to move mountains
Yet wild and free"
She suddenly spun around and Jim quickly rolled away to a nearby alleyway yanking Toby with him. She stopped singing and pulled her earbuds out. Looking around as she thought she saw something in the corner of her eye.
"Hello?", she asked the air.
Jim started to sweat a little as his pupils dialated, and Toby chuckled.
"Why are you nervous all of a sudden? Come on man, you defeated things scarier.", Toby whispered.
"I'm not nervous.", he said sharply.
"What do you mean? You're sweating.", Toby replied but then he realized what was happening.
"Wait...you like her, don't you?", he asked with a sly smile.
"Shut up or she'll hear us.", Jim hissed.
He peeked a little as well as Toby, Ashka quickly whipped back around shouting "Mám ťa!" (Got ya!)
Making the boys scramble back behind the brick wall, Jim covered Toby's mouth as he bit his tongue and closed his eyes. Then Jim heard her start singing again, he peeked around the corner once more this time slower, and sighed as he saw her walking away.
"If you're done watching her butt, we should probably finish our morning patrol and head to campus before the sun is up."
Jim blushed and growled with embarrassment, " I wasn't doing that! I was waiting to see if she was going to turn the corner or not!"
"Yeah, sure and my name isn't Toby Domzalski."
"Anyway, it seems she's just a normal girl who likes music."
"Likes music a lot, but did you notice the heavy scarring on her neck when her hood came off? And what did she just shout? So far, it sounds like she knows three different languages! Also she is very very filthy, couldn't you smell it?", Toby bombarded Jim with questions.
"No, maybe. But she is filthy...probably doesn't have access to a shower. She didn't smell all too bad, kinda just smelled like earth.", Jim answered quickly.
Toby raised an eyebrow but continued to talk, "Yeah...I guess but from what I could tell...those scars looked nasty. Almost like it isn't healing properly, that doesn't seem normal to me. She might need help with that, and we can figure out why she's actually here?"
"We'll need to get to her, and help her if that's the case."
"Let's go then! Hey, she could be a new friend?!", Toby said as they walked where the mysterious girl went.
Continuing to walk in the direction of the school, Jim picked up an empty can of what seemed to be beans off the sidewalk.
"You're going to eat that aren't you?", Toby reluctantly asked.
Jim looked at him and tossed the can up in the air, with a teeth ripping sound as he crunched it to bits in his mouth.
"AAUUGGHH!", Toby shouted as he covered his ears.
"Yes...yes, I am going to eat this.", Jim said through his mouthfuls of metal.
They kept walking, checking every dark corner and alleyway for any possible enemies.
"You know I don't understand why we are even doing this. I mean there's a force field around the entire town to protect it.", Toby said as he looked around the empty roads.
"Everything has a weak point, not saying Douixe isn't strong enough. Just that we all have to be thorough in our works. We need to support each other as a team, but something does feel off.", Jim said as he slowed down.
Suddenly a whirlwind of polar temperatures blew through them like daggers, "HOLY CRAP!", Toby shouted.
Toby wrapped his arms in his body, wincing as the wind burned his face turning his cheeks and nose red. Their bodies suddenly getting a coating of thin frost as they tried to stay up right.
"Augh! This wasn't a part of the forecast! I can feel it trying to cut through me! Toby get behind me!", Jim shouted as he winced in discomfort.
"Dude! I'm trying but the wind is too strong!", Toby shouted as he tried to move to the side. The wind stopped as abruptly as it blew through, covering the small area with ice.
"W-what was th-that? M-magic?", Toby said as he was still shivering.
"I... I don't know, but we aren't alone.", Jim said, slightly shivering as he got his sword ready and sniffed the air.
"Ushrespasseum. (Trespasser)", Jim growled.
Toby gulped in fear of not knowing what was going to come at them, as he began to pull out Warhammer. In the blink of an eye, a giant ice-covered boulder came hurtling toward Jim.
"Look out!", Toby shouted at Jim, but it came in so fast that he couldn't react.
Crushing him into the nearby brick wall with a sheer force that broke through into the building. Jim rolled the boulder off himself as it collapsed into snow, coughing up a little bit of blood.
"Fuck! Where did that come from?", he said as he held his side.
"Jim are you alright?! That was the fastest snowball I've seen!", Toby exclaimed with his Warhammer ready for action, reaching out a hand to help Jim up. Jim reached for the gesture, but another boulder was hurtling straight for both of them.
Toby raised his hammer like a bat ready to swing.
"I got this Jim!", he shouted confediently.
As the boulder came within range, he swung his hammer causing the boulder to shatter into snow powder.
"Whoa, I didn't think that was actually going to work!", Toby shouted with surprise.
Suddenly a booming voice echoed from the wind, "Trollhunter!"
A colossal-sized troll like beast almost bigger than Gunmar appeared out of the trees, with an outgrowth of ice-like crystals along its back and shoulders. Instead of the usual stone skin, it had white fur like a polar bear and antlers that rivaled any moose beyond its prime.
"What the...", Toby exclaimed but before he could finish Jim let out the loudest roar that sent Toby's neck hairs to stand on end. It almost reminded him of Gunmar, but more feral.
"Thurhug duruth gorotu dunmar thurhzag duruth gorotu gulere?! (Who are you and why are you here?!)", he growled with authority as his tail whipped around angrily.
His eyes flashed red, Toby noticed and got nervous.
The beast chuckled as he manifested another boulder at Jim. Jim roared as he jumped up at the flying stone and destroyed it with his sword, the large ice beast raised his eyebrows with satisfaction but wasn't paying attention to Toby running at him with Warhammer in tow.
He swung the hammer straight into his stomach but only to be stopped by the sheer heaviness of the troll.
"Geeze! It's like trying to hit a mountain, what do you even eat dude!?", Toby said as he huffed.
The beast suddenly raised his hand, the sheer movement released a gush of cold air and without touching Toby knocked him into the hole in the building.
"Ashtazag athuakum ulighakum iniveum ushhere, ᛊᛟᚾ ᛟᚠ ᛒᛚᚨᚲᚲᛗᚨᛚᛚ. (Stay put right over there, Son of Blackmaul.) ", the troll exclaimed and suddenly Toby couldn't move or speak. He was forced to sit inside the building and not to peep out any little word from his mouth.
Toby was confused about what he said, but the last three words etched into his mind.
Jim looked insulted, "What the hell did you do to Toby?!".
His armor pulsating red with fury, his black claws scraping the concrete.
"Nothing to hurt the lad! Just to get him out of the way of our fun, gorounor ushrollhunteum. (Young Trollhunter) ", the troll said as he swayed his hands towards Toby. Jim suddenly started to barrel roll with sheer speed, sword out like a shredder straight towards the troll. The beast readied himself to catch Jim but wasn't ready quick enough as he was knocked 60 feet across the way. Ice shattered off of him like weak glass, spraying the shards everywhere. The shard quickly melted as soon as they touched the ground.
"So, it is true! The Trollhunter is no longer a welp! Ha-ha! This is good! You wield with such ferocity and sovereignty, that's quite unusual for a Troll.", he sighed.
Jim was a little confused about that remark.
"Gorou'ruth azvebag ashtrongeum ushhabag gu! (You're even stronger than I!)", the large beast chuckled after brushing off his arm that was covered in shattered ice.
"This guy speaks troll? But he doesn't look like a troll I've ever seen.", Toby said behind the invisible force field.
"Who are you? Why are you in Arcadia? Answer me, damn it!", Jim snarled.
Jim waited for him to answer, to his surprise the ice beast sat down instead of launching another ice boulder at his face. With a large thud, he shook the ground around him, "Dulreaakum Gureya! i gulaven'akum ashaakum ishowbag gubag ilenturies! (Great Freya, I haven't sat down in centuries!)."
With a huff causing his mossy mustache to blow about he spoke with a slightly humorous tone, "I'm no threat to ya son. I just wanted to see how strong you were!".
"Don't call me son, especially when you are trespassing in another troll's territory.", Jim growled, baring his teeth as he held his fighting stance.
"Great Ymir! Calm down Trollhunter, I'm not here to take ya territory or harm ya. Are all young trolls so emotionally driven these days? Territory this...territory that, why not relax with a nice puff of Glogoonwarakum? (Moonwart)", letting out a big sigh and releasing a large cloud of condensation.
"My name is Ívar. I'm what you call an ice troll per se but where I'm from, it's Jötnar. I came a long way to find you and warn you of what's to come for all of the nine realms.", he said as his voice turned serious.
Jim stopped and looked like a mix of irritation and sheer distress, "Son of a...what...what do you mean nine realms? And what is a Jötnar?", he asked in confusion.
"Jötnar means giant, we're a separate branch of species of troll. Bigger and hardier with a touch of Æsir like qualities, but without the heartlessness, no?", Ivar said as he gestured towards Toby sitting Indian style surrounded by a force field in the building.
"You nearly killed us!" ,Toby shouted but only frustrated muffling could be heard behind the magic barrier.
"Oh, hush! You're clearly unharmed gorounglinor (youngling)", Ivar shouted.
"Why are you here?", Jim asked with assertiveness.
Ivar let out a big sigh and his tone changed dramatically, "Something is coming for you, and your worlds."
"Me and my friends we've defeated Bular, Gunmar, Morgana, and the Arcane Order. What else is there?", Jim asked as he still held his sword at Ivar, unsure of what to do. But then his nose was distracted by something else in the air, somewhat blending in with the Jötnar. He tried to look around, seeing maybe a glimpse of whatever it was.
"Is she nearby? Where could she be?", he thought to himself but shook his head to focus.
"The Arcane Order was defeated by the young Trollhunters, yes...but did you ever destroy the roots?", Ivar said as he made a long churchwarden pipe out of ice, lighting it with magic he started to smoke.
Jim looked at him confused, "Explain."
Letting out a puff and a sigh he continued to explain, "When you kill a weed do you pull out just the plant or the entirety of said weed?"
Jim looked down thinking then his eyes got big, "The...the entire plant because it'll grow back from the root system."
"Atherciselzag, young Trollhunter. Something far more powerful than you can imagine, strong enough to destroy the very existence of life is coming for this universe.", Ivar exclaimed as he clenched his fist as he let out a big puff.
"What!? There's no way something like that would exist. Blinky would've told me that or I would've read it in the troll texts.", Jim said as he took a step back and lowered his sword in disbelief.
"Aye, young Trollhunter...I came from the realm of Jotunheim, the gate of giants if you may. But as for the force of great destruction and confusion, it was birthed from Ginnungagap. From the depths of the deepest darkest corners of the multiverse, it brings rot, decay, and utter chaos.", Ivar spoke.
"So, like the Deep, right? And what does the Arcane Order have to do with any of this? And why are you telling me...is this true?", Jim spoke as he lowered his sword, eyes looked down as if trying to remember something.
"Aye young one, I'm afraid so. But the deep you know about only goes so far...Ginnungagap is an eternal void. The Arcane Order's spiritual power over this world...Midgard...is like a conductor. So, this force of chaos is finding its way to Midgard by using this said conductor.", Ivar said as he looked downcast.
"Hmm...", Ivan said as he rubbed his chin looking at Jim.
"What is it now?", Jim asked slightly annoyed.
"Not sure, but you and your friends will not be able to stop this unless you find those who were born from fire and ice. Those who swallow the Sun and Moon, that is all I know.", Ivar bellowed as he glanced back over to his right.
"Wait, did you say multiverse?", Jim said as he put the Eclipse sword back into its' sheath, but suddenly he sensed a feeling of uncertainty from around the corner of where they were.
"I am aware you are missing an important member of your party. I've heard she fought courageously against the Order and defeated them with a fire still burning in her.", Ivar said with compassion towards Jim.
Jim was thrown back from the comment, he blinked and furrowed his eyebrows.
"Please don't go off-topic. What exactly do we need to do to defeat this...mysterious force.", he said between his bared fangs.
"Forgive me, I know how painful it can be to lose someone you love. But what is at hand is that you need to find both of those power sources, there are only two of them. You will have to find them yourself and train them to be ready. These two beings were also born from deep within Ginnungagap; you must find them and rescue them from their own darkness and destruction. Reignite their flame before it grows any colder!", he shouted as he got up with force and passion.
"Why can't you do it? I already have so much on my plate, to begin with! College, trying to find a life with what little normalcy I can get!" Jim shouted.
"Because young one...as I said I came a long way just to find you. I'm a mere ghost of the past. The Jötnar were destroyed by the Æsir a long time ago. And you dear boy are no mere Trollhunter! You are the liberator! A monarch! It is your duty to protect those who cannot protect themselves! You made a promise!", he said with desolation as the wind and snow picked up into a blizzard.
Jim jumped back with confusion.
"What do you mean!?", he shouted as he almost fell from shock.
"I cannot tell you more for the time of daybreak is near, but you must find her. Her name means fire bringer. His name means light bringer, you must tell this to your mentor. He will understand, but you must be..." as soon as the light hit his body he turned into fresh snow, glistening in the light.
"Shit! What the hell is going on!", Jim ran to the forest to get away from the light.
He reached to the nearest dark corner of the forest and shouted, "Toby! Are you alright!? Are you able to get out?!"
Toby popped out from the back door of the building, "I'm fine, just a little shaken up from what just happened. The magic barrier went down after he vanished."
Walking over to Jim as he was putting his Warhammer back into his bag. "What was that all about?", he asked as he pulled out a black umbrella to hand it to Jim.
"I'm not completely sure, but I know that our world-ending days aren't over.", he said as he relaxed enough to retract the armor.
Toby let out the loudest groan he could muster, "WHEN WILL IT ENNNNDDDD!!!"
As the armor retracted it exposed his long-sleeved dark green hoodie, reaching over to grab the umbrella. "Jim! Look! It's that girl!", Toby shouted as he pointed at the girl running in the direction of the college.
"Do you think she saw everything?", Toby exclaimed.
Jim sighed, "Well the existence of magical beings isn't weird in this town, but something about her seems off. We need to find her first to explain everything."
"So, she was there...why didn't Ivar say anything?", thought Jim as he opened the umbrella.
Toby and Jim started to run towards the college.
Toby took another deep breath, "This is going to be a loooonnnggggg year."
Jim rolled his eyes and sighed.
Two large black birds flew across the sunlit sky, bringing forth dark clouds from the north.